Application Note

Circuit Breaker Timing Tests with CMC Test Sets

Author
Mohammad Al-Fayoumi | mohammad.al-fayoumi@omicron.at

Date
Sept 02, 2011

Related OMICRON Product

CMC Test Sets, Test Universe

Application Area
Circuit Breakers

Version
v1.0

Document ID
ANS_11010_ENU

Abstract

The role played by the circuit breakers has always been one of the determining factors of the power system
networks reliability, as its main role is to protect the network and the installed electrical equipments from
destructive short-circuit currents. Circuit breakers can stay in the closed position for years but are still
expected to interrupt a powerful short-circuit current of many thousands of amperes in a fraction of second.

With the possibility of the CMC test set to do timing tests for the circuit breakers making it the most intelligent
test kit able to do the protection testing in addition to the circuit breaker timing tests which are integrated
tests for the substation and switchgear tests.

© OMICRON Page 1 of 17
 Content

1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3
2 Circuit Breaker Timing .................................................................................................................... 3
3 Circuit Breaker Timing tests with a CMC Test Set ......................................................................... 4
3.1 Test Procedures ....................................................................................................................... 4
3.1.1 Test Object Parameters ...............................................................................................................5
3.1.2 Hardware Configuration ...............................................................................................................6
3.1.3 State 1: Pre-Test..........................................................................................................................7
3.1.4 State 2: Close cmd.......................................................................................................................8
3.1.5 State 3: Charge Time ................................................................................................................. 10
3.1.6 State 4: Open cmd ..................................................................................................................... 11
3.1.7 Results Assessment .................................................................................................................. 13
3.2 Example on CB's Factory Test Results ....................................................................................14
3.3 CMC Test Set - Technical considerations.................................................................................15

Please use this note only in combination with the related product manual which contains several important safety
instructions. The user is responsible for every application that makes use of an OMICRON product.

OMICRON electronics GmbH including all international branch offices is henceforth referred to as OMICRON.

© OMICRON 2010. All rights reserved. This application note is a publication of OMICRON.
All rights including translation reserved. Reproduction of any kind, for example, photocopying, microfilming, optical
character recognition and/or storage in electronic data processing systems, requires the explicit consent of OMICRON.
Reprinting, wholly or in part, is not permitted.
The product information, specifications, and technical data embodied in this application note represent the technical
status at the time of writing and are subject to change without prior notice.
We have done our best to ensure that the information given in this application note is useful, accurate and entirely
reliable. However, OMICRON does not assume responsibility for any inaccuracies which may be present.
OMICRON translates this application note from the source language English into a number of other languages. Any
translation of this document is done for local requirements, and in the event of a dispute between the English and a non-
English version, the English version of this note shall govern.

© OMICRON 2011 Page 2 of 17

1 Introduction
From the time when the existence of the electric current flow was first established and even before the basic
thermal, mechanical, and chemical effects produced by such current were determined, it had become clear
that there was a need for inventing a device capable of initiating and stopping the flow of the current.
Fundamentally, there are two ways by which the flow of current can be stopped; one is to reduce the driving
potential to zero, and the other is to physically separate a pair of contacts to create an open gap between
the conductor that is carrying the current. Historically, the later method has been the one most commonly
used to achieve current interruption using a device called circuit breaker (CB).

The circuit breaker is defined as “a mechanical switching device, capable of making and breaking currents
under normal circuit conditions and also making, carrying for a specified time and breaking currents under
specified abnormal circuit conditions such as those of short circuit"[1].

All circuit breakers have common features in their operation principles, although some details vary
substantially depending on the voltage class, current rating and type of the circuit breaker. Once a fault is
detected, the poles of the circuit breaker must open to interrupt the circuit; some mechanically-stored energy
(using something such as springs or compressed air) contained within the breaker is used to separate the
poles within a very short period of time.

If the operation time during a trip is too long, the short-circuit current being interrupted will persist for a much
longer amount of time and could damage transformations, transmission, and distribution installations. In
addition, the contacts are subject to the arc for longer periods which reduces their useful lifespan. Reducing
the interrupting time may also bring an added benefit of increasing the transmitted power because the
stability power limit will be increased in inverse proportion with the tripping time.

2 Circuit Breaker Timing

It is important for all contacts to be synchronized within a certain tolerance limit in three phase systems, all
poles (phases) and contacts must operate at the same time. If the contacts in one pole don't operate in sync,
then the slowest contact to close and the quickest to open will absorb the greater part of the load, causing
premature wear to the contacts in question. The difference between the phases can generate voltage spikes
because of the very nature of the transmission system. These systems can consist of long transmission lines
with extremities whose state can't always be predicted, such as open-ended, loaded, capacitive, inductive,
etc. These factors may cause huge voltage spikes that could potentially damage the network and its
equipments.

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3 Circuit Breaker Timing tests with a CMC Test Set
The CMC test set does have a multiple of binary inputs and outputs in addition to an accurate time
measurement process allowing it to perform circuit breakers timing tests.

Fig.1: Principle Connect Scheme for CB time tests

With the connection principle shown in Figure 1 it is possible to test the opening, closing and charging time
of the circuit breakers. The open command contact (BO-1) and the close command contact (BO-2) are
connected to the binary inputs in parallel in order to eliminate those contacts operation time ( 8 - 9 ms)
during the test.

3.1 Test Procedures

The State Sequencer test module is used to perform the test setup as follows:

Fig.2: CB Timing Tests States

Fig.3: Measurement view for results assessment

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3.1.1 Test Object Parameters
Enter the CB's name or a description, its manufacturer, its type, its address, its serial or model number, and
any other information that is useful to identify it in the Device Settings. This information appears in all
subsequent test reports.

Fig.4: Test Object Parameters

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3.1.2 Hardware Configuration
The CB timing test does not require any voltage or current outputs of the CMC test set, therefore they are
disabled in the Hardware Configuration.

In the Binary / Analog Inputs tab all available inputs are displayed, if necessary the display names of the
inputs can be changed.

Fig.7: Binary / Analog Inputs

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 On the Binary Outputs tab the configured binary outputs of the CMC test set are displayed.

Fig.8: Binary Outputs

3.1.3 State 1: Pre-Test

In this state no contacts will be operated. The main use of this state is to have a time measurement
reference, so the measurement will start immediately after state 1. In addition to that the wiring to the CB
and all contact positions can be checked during the before starting the actual test.

Fig.9: Pre-Test state

Fig.10: Start Test Condition for Pre-Test state.

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 Note: Start Test Condition applies to the first state only.

Fig.11: Trigger Configuration for Pre-Test State.

The above figure shows the user interaction for the termination of the Pre-Test state where pressing the
Enter button is required if all wiring to the CB is correct as per the test template.

Fig.12: Status of Binary Outputs in the Pre-Test State.

3.1.4 State 2: Close cmd

In state 2 the close command to the CB will be processed by Bin Out-1 allowing the DC to pass to the
closing coil of the circuit breaker. In the mean time the status of Bin Out-1 will be monitored by Bin In-5, so

© OMICRON 2011 Page 8 of 17

 the time reference will be when the Bin Out-1 closes completely to eliminate the operation time of this
contact. To ensure safe testing the state will be terminated after 100 ms if the circuit breaker didn't close on
the sent trigger.

Fig.13: Close cmd state

Fig.14: Trigger Configuration for the Close cmd state.

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 Fig.15: Status of Binary Outputs in the Close cmd state.

3.1.5 State 3: Charge Time

State 3 can be used to measure the CB's charging time. When the CB closes its poles, it can be heard
clearly that the springs are cocked. There are two ways of determining the charging time:

1. If there is a contact that changes its position when the CB is charged then it can be used to terminate the
state. This action will automatically stop the time measurements, so the exact time can be measured.
2. If there is no contact then the user interaction can be used by pressing the Enter button as soon as the
CB is charged. Using this method the time can be measured with a tolerance of
200 – 300 ms.

Fig.16: Charge Time state.

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 Fig.17: Trigger Configuration for the Charge Time state.

The above figure shows the user interaction for the second method of timing measurement, where pressing
the Enter button is required after the CB finished charging.

Fig.18: Status of Binary Outputs in the Charge time State.

3.1.6 State 4: Open cmd

In state 4 the open command to the circuit breaker will be processed by Bin Out-2 allowing the DC to pass to
the opening coil of the circuit breaker. In the mean time the status of Bin Out-2 will be monitored by Bin In-7,
so the time reference is when the Bin Out-2 closes completely to eliminate the operation time of this contact.

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 To ensure safe testing the state will be terminated after 100 ms if the circuit breaker didn't close on the sent
trigger.

Fig.19: Open cmd State.

Fig.20: Trigger Configuration for the Open cmd state.

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 Fig.21: Status of Binary Outputs in the Open cmd state.

3.1.7 Results Assessment

The nominal values can be entered from the circuit breaker factory test results (see example in chapter 3.2)
and are automatically assessed using the times measured by the CMC test set.

Fig.22: Test results assessment

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 3.2 Example on CB's Factory Test Results

Fig.23: Example for CB's Factory test results

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 3.3 CMC Test Set - Technical considerations
The CMC test set can be used in respect to the technical specifications of the binary inputs and binary
outputs mentioned in the CMC test set hardware reference manual [4] as follows:

Table.1: Binary Inputs technical details of a CMC 356.

Table.2: Binary Outputs technical details of a CMC 356.

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 List of Literature

[1] International Standard, IEC62271-100, High- voltage alternating-current circuit-breakers.

nd
[2] Rubin D.Grazon, High voltage circuit breakers design and applications, New York, 2 edition 2002.

[3] Dr.Fouad Brikci, Zensol Automation Inc, Circuit breaker timing tests, 2002.

[4] CMC 356 Reference Manual - Version CMC356.AE.4.

© OMICRON 2011 Page 16 of 17

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